Notes and correspondence on the situation in East Persia and the Malleson Mission

Content

This file relates to the situation in East Persia and the Malleson Mission (1918-21). It includes papers on the following subjects:

A collection of papers titled 'Expenditure on [the] Malleson Mission and Troops in East Persia', including: a memorandum from the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Political Department on planned politico-military missions to Kashgar [Qashqar] and Meshed [Mashhad] to 'work in allied interests [,] and combat German and Turkish propaganda' on the model of General Lionel Dunsterville's organisation Dunsterforce, previously deployed to the North Caucasus; a memorandum by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on which government department should bear the expenses for Malleson's Mission in countering 'German-Bolshevik developments in Central Asia', with reflections on the German promotion of Pan-Turanism and Pan-Islamism which, together with Bolshevism were perceived as posing a 'direct menace' to the security of India, since they could conceivably 'enlist the forces of religion in the armies of political and social discontent'; correspondence to date between the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , HM Treasury and the War Office (including from Secretary of State for War, Winston S Churchill) concerning the Chancellor's memorandum, together with thirty-two appendices on expenditures preceding the Chancellor's memorandum and the military and political telegrams referred to in the collection on 'Expenditures' (January 1921); the lack of financial resources to continue the Malleson Mission in Trans-Caspia (December 1918); the criticism by Lovat Fraser of expenditures on the Mission in the Daily Mail (July 1920); the assumption of the Mission's current roles to 'encourage resistance in Persia to Pan-Islamic and Bolshevik influences' and offer 'moral support to Transcaspians by threatening [the] flank and rear of [the] Bolshevik advance towards Krasnovodsk [Turkmenbashi]' by a 'Persian Force to be raised under the terms of the recent agreement', together with the existing Seistan Levy Corps and Khorasan Levy Corps, and the 'intelligence work' to be carried out by a 'small organisation' based at Meshed (September 1919).

Extent and format

1 file (35 folios)

It is grouped into

East Persia Cordon Road Map

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/MIL/5/807, f 35

Arrangement

The entries are recorded in chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.

Physical characteristics

The foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 35; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

Written in

English in Latin script

Type

Archival file

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity.

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

IOR/L/MIL/5/807

History of this record

Date(s)

Apr 1918-Jan 1921 (CE, Gregorian)

Subjects

East Persia Cordon (1915-1920)PanislamismPan-TuranianismPropagandaBolshevismMalleson Mission (1918-1919)

Places

PersiaMeshedSistanKrasnovodskKhurasanTranscaspiaKashgarCaucasus

People & organisations

Seistan Levy CorpsKhorasan Levy CorpsGovernment of PersiaDunsterforceImperial Government of the Ottoman EmpireGovernment of the German EmpireIndian ArmyWilfrid MallesonLovat George FraserLionel Charles Dunsterville

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Notes and correspondence on the situation in East Persia and the Malleson Mission, British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/5/807, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100000000465.0x000301> [accessed 11 March 2025]

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